Tag Archive - Ministry

2009 is really fine

January 17, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I never imagined that life in ministry would ever be so busy, especially this time of the year.  I thought that after Christmas there would be a lull until Lent starts.  Boy was I wrong.

Amidst he business of ministry, family obligations, and whatever else comes up I am really excited about the prospects of the year.

First the prospects of ministry:

We have some new blood on the church council – and by new blood I mean people who have never served on the church council before.  Also there is new leadership — people who have never been in leadership on the council.  This is an exciting thing for me.  I love the ideas, I love the passion and I love the direction that we as a  church are headed.  One of my goals for the year is to establish a strong foundation.  Not only in the infrastructure of the church (getting committees to meet again, establishing strong communication between the council and the lay people, ect) but I would also like for our council to establish a strong foundation in the word of God.   It is through God that we are getting our strength and passion for ministry.

I am also about getting out into the community more and getting involved with different organizations within the community.  I recently joined the chamber of commerce and I want to be involved with that organization.

At St. Mark’s we have a Community room where we once had a nursery school program.    That stopped meeting in 2007 and now we are in conversation as to what to do with that space.  I want to see what the community need and I am excited about those possibilities.

Family:

This is going to be an exciting year for our family.  Our kids are going to be at an amazing age (5 and 2) this year.  They are the joy of my joys.  Also my wife and I are dedicated to get healthy and get fit and we are off to a good start.

We also are living in a great area where we can be active outside.  It is a little hard now because of the snow but we are excited overall.  We hope that we will find a place to live by the end of the year where we can stay in one place for a long time.

Finances are always a challenge but we are better off in that area than we ever have been and we are paying down debt and starting to get some savings.  I know by the end of the year we will have at least our credit cards paid off and we will be on the road to only really have student loan debt.  This is happening even faster with YNAB (for more information visit the link on in the sidebar).

I know there will be bumps in the road, there always are but I think this is the first time in my life when I have really looked forward to the upcoming year and I am confident that this will be a great year.

13 things: Number One

December 3, 2008 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Not too long ago I posted 13 things that I would like to concentrate on in the next year. I am going to start in the month of December.

This month I will be working on two things (one personal and one professional)

Personal — Exercise

Professional — Visitation

Exercise — I know that in the past the only way for me to really get healthy is to exercise.  I can watch what I eat and drink plenty of water.  But for my body type I need to exercise.  I have never really been good about going to the gym.  However, recently my first call mentor and I have been meeting at the gym twice a week.  Like he says– it is easier to get up and get out of bed if you know someone is waiting for you at the gym and that is true.  The days that he has been out of town, I have had good intentions but I have yet to make it to the gym without him.

So I have been going -  but I need to look at our routine and evaluate it.  I want to make sure that I am not getting up at 5:30 am and meeting him for an hour and really waste my time.  Any exercise is better than no exercise, don’t get me wrong.  But I know that there are things that I could be doing which will maximize my time there.

Visitation – I know that especially this time of the year it is good to get out and make as many visits as possible.  But more than that, I want to set up a system for me to go out and visit people.  The church on the hill does not have too many members on the home bound list at this point.  I hope to find people that I could go see that are not on the list….but I want to make sure I have a regular schedule of visitation for those who are on the list.  As I find my way through this thing called ministry I want to make the most of my time while serving the needs of those in the church.  That is a balance act that I might never master but it doesn’t hurt to try!

As I go through these things I will give updates of my progress.  I will also give you some tips of the things that I have learned while I go through this process.  Any advice you might have for me, please feel free to leave in a comment below.

What is Ministry

November 2, 2008 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I have been thinking about this question since I started my call in July….what is ministry?

When I was in youth ministry before and during seminary, ministry for me was connecting with the youth of the church. It was sending out permission slips and making phone calls. It was getting in the lives of the youth of the church making sure they felt weclome and that they were being treated fairly in the church.

During seminary (at least the educational part) ministry was filling my head with knowledge. I read hundreds of books about the Old and New Testament, Pastoral Care, preaching, basic and not so basic theology, and anything else they could throw at us. Ministry was learning.

I had my internship during seminary and that was a learning experience. Besides learning about the church, the context of ministry, I learned how to apply some of the stuff I read in books to actual ministry situtations. I also learned how to change my name to a title of “Vicar”

The main purpose of ministry for me was relating with people. It was getting out there and getting to know people and hear their stories. As I settle into my first call, my idea of ministry changes — I still believe relationships are key to good ministry. In order to know the context of ministry that you are in, you have to know the people in which you serve. That is fundmental in my opinion…..

But I have expanded that, there are so many behind the scene type things that need to get done, I have been amazed at the type of things that I have needed to do the last three months. There have been things that I have had to deal with that I never learned in seminary or on internship. If it was not for my mentor and colleagues I would not of made it. I have learned that ministry is relating to colleagues because I would never last as a pastor who is out there trying to do things on my own without support.

Ministry is evolving and never really constant, when you think you know what ministry is – it changes into something else. Ministry is thinking a month a head of time, while at the same time reflecting and learning from the recent past.

Even though I have not figured out what ministry is — perhaps I never will, I do know that I love ministry. I love the basic parts of ministry and I love being able to experiment in ministry in the church – to help people find God moments in their life.

Friday Five

September 12, 2008 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Even though I have not made the time to blog all that is going on the Friday Five from RevGalBlogPals keeps me going from week to week- here’s this week’s edition:

It’s time for a Back-To-School Friday Five!
1. Is anyone going back to school, as a student or teacher, at your house? How’s it going so far?
Well the boy is going to school for the first time.  We enrolled him in a preschool program.  He is really enjoying it so far.  Next week however he is taking the bus (about a 1/2 an hour drive).  We are praying for him.  
This year is the first year that I will not be starting or continuing in a degree program.   I will not start another program for at least 3 years, but there is always continuing education!

2. Were you glad or sad when back-to-school time came as a kid?
I was always excited for the new school year.  I enjoyed getting new clothes and books and pens and pencils.  I think that lasted about a week in the school year and then I could not wait for the next break in the school year.  

3. Did your family of origin have any rituals to mark this time of year? How about now?
We always took that first day of school picture — but that’s about it.  We are starting the same with “the boy.”  Next year when he starts Kindergarten we might do more but who knows what will be going on then.  

4. Favorite memories of back-to-school outfits, lunchboxes, etc? 
Nike Air Jordan basketball shoes were the in thing when I was younger.  I remember those were the shoes that EVERYONE was getting and I wanted a pair of my own.  I eventually got a pair and always thought I was the coolest kid every time I pumped them up.
5. What was your best year of school?
I have two great years — the first is my senior year in high school.  I finally broke through the shy phase of my life (thanks in a big part to my time at Calumet).  I was doing the things I wanted to do – I had a great group of friends and I knew where I was going and what I wanted to do with my life (or so I thought).  

The next is my senior year of seminary.  Even though I was somewhat disconnected from the seminary campus (because we lived about 45 min from campus).  I was (an still am) confident in my call to ministry – I was doing well academically (better than any year before) and I was really enjoying myself in school.  Don’t get me wrong I wanted to get out of school, I wanted to be out in the world doing ministry– but it was not until my last semester did I even entertain doing a Doctorate in Ministry (and I have an idea of what I might do).

What a week!!

August 2, 2008 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments

This week has been amazing!

My week started out pretty normally.  However there was excitement in the air.  I knew that there were two big events coming up for me.  The first was that on Tuesday I pick up the first generation iphone.  Let me say that I LOVE IT!  I had trouble setting it up.  That was my own stupid fault because I left the previous owners sim card in it.  But once I got my sim card in it I was able to activate it and start using it.  I am still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles but I love it.  The phone has almost everything I could ever want in a portable device.  I think I would love to have the 3G speed and more importantly the GPS navigation but I am very, very satisfied. (plus I am not locked in for another two years before I can upgrade to version 3 of the iphone!!!

The bigger of the events this week was my ordination last night.  I must say I am still in awe of the whole service.  To be a part of an ordination is special to be the one who is ordained is priceless.  To have the gathered church body around me in celebration of all my accomplishments and the ministry that is before me is just awesome.  I know that I am lucky where the two biggest ceremonies in my life (wedding and ordination) have gone without a hitch.  It was pure celebration and excitement.

I found out this morning that my picture along with an interview was in today’s local paper.  It is also online for those who would like to read it. I love the title of the articles.

Amidst all the craziness I have spent more time getting ready for my ordination and now I feel more free to focus my energy on getting to know the people of St. Mark’s and to expand upon my ministry here.

New Job, New Home, New Blog

July 22, 2008 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments

I have been a pastor for a week.  It feels good.  I came into the church with 65-70 kids running around during Vacation Bible School.  It was kind of crazy — but a good kind  of crazy.  I prepared for my first service as well as my first time presiding over communion.  It was a good feeling — it really helped me solidify my call as a pastor.  It helped me gain more confidence in this vocation that I have been called too.

There is so much going on right now it is hard to sit down and spill everything out.  It feels like my life is a fast moving train and there is no way to stop it.  However, with that being said things are coming together. 

We moved in our new place and really like it.  We have a garage full of boxed somewhat organized into different piles but there is still unpacking that needs to be done. 

I am getting more and more familiar with the church and how the church runs.  I am finding out their style of ministry while I am finding out my own.  I think we will work well together.

I am trying to catch up on things like emails, blog posts, well wishes and I would like to establish a routein.  I guess things will eventually come……..

I have to get my office in order.  I have a number of boxes of books that need to come in and get organized and my office furnature needs to be arranged to how I want it- I just need to figure out how I want it :)

Ministry is fun – ministry can be overwhelming.  I hope that the fun comes sooner than later :)

 

PS – since I have lots of new stuff going on I decided to change the look and title of my blog.  I hope to stick with this one for awhile.  There are other adjustments that need to be made but I decided to call it “Life Together” – I chose this since I am starting a new life- That involves you, my new church home and community.  I also enjoy the book by the same title by Bonhoeffer.  You should check it out! (another blog topic for the future)